Authors

Enn Ernits

Abstract

Concerning the contribution of Mihkel Veske to the investigation of Finno-Ugric loanwords in Russian The paper provides an analysis of the first chapter of the monograph of the Estonian linguist Mihkel Veske (earlier Michael Weske; 1843–1890) concerning words in Russian dialects borrowed from Finno-Ugric languages (Veske 1890). First, a short overview is given of the monograph and previous evaluations of it, as well as the history of the 19th-century investigation of these loanwords. In the main part of the paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the contribution of M. Veske to the investigation of loanwords by differentiating and calculating the percentage of correct, nearly correct and incorrect etymologies. M. Veske has investigated 105 Finno-Ugrian loanwords in Russian, including 21 words that have not previously been studied. The most Russian words have been borrowed from the Finnic languages. Only four loanwords derive from the Komi language: курья ‘long, shallow creek; dried river bed’, туртать ‘disturb’, шира ‘mouse’, and чага ‘tinder fungus (Inonotus obliquus)’. The paper analyzes the correctness of Veske’s etymologies and assumed directions of borrowing, dividing the words examined into different groups based on their meaning. Half of the etymologies of the loanwords connected with fishing and water transport, as well as those related to products and materials, were correct. M. Veske has most successfully analyzed loanwords connected with nature: 70% of them were correct. The group of unclassified words contains 43% correct etymologies. The majority of words in this group are verbs. In summary, one can assert that M. Veske correctly etymologized 50% of the loanwords he investigated. Undoubtedly, M. Veske has significantly contributed to the investigation of Finno‑Ugric loanwords in Russian. Moreover, unlike the works of his forerunners, his monograph is not only a word list, but the first argued research on the topic.